I LIVE!!! I've had some major writer's block and wasn't able to write this chapter. I've planned my fic out, I just can't seem to write my ideas:P

Chapter 9: Round 5: Mother Knows The Best

Soon after May and Misty's bonding, the two became rivals once again for Ash's love. Although, their catty attitudes towards each other that was present before their time together had dissolved. They merely had a friendly rivalry, and to them, it was better than nothing.

Mrs. Ketchum was preparing breakfast when Ash came in looking for something to eat. He recovered rather well from the accident and was ready, willing, and able for the day.

"Good morning sweetie!" Mrs. Ketchum said as she turned to face Ash.

"Morning Mom!" Ash replied back. He opened the fridge and brought out a carton of milk, then headed towards the cabinet to grab a glass. He noticed neither of the girls were around. "Where's May and Misty?"

"May went out shopping and Misty went to go see Prof. Oak." Mrs. Ketchum answered. She set a plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon on the table for Ash.

"This early in the morning?" Ash said as he sat down with his glass of milk.

"May offered to pick up a few things for me and wanted to buy some souvenirs while she's at the store, and Misty said she needed to exchange a pokemon from Prof. Oak's lab for something she has planned later on."

"Knowing May she'll probably buy up the entire store and that'll take a while. So I guess this leaves an open schedule for me today." Ash said between bites.

"Not exactly, Ash. Prof. Birch called a little while ago. He said he wanted you to meet a trainer from Hoenn at the dock. He's also new to Kanto and needs a guide so I took the liberty of volunteering you to tag along with him on his journey!" Ash choked on his food.

"Wha?!"

"I knew you wouldn't mind Ash! Now you better hurry up and finish your breakfast or you'll be late picking him up!"

"But Mom I-"

"I'll start packing your things for your trip, let me know when our guest is here!" Mrs. Ketchum said as she left the room.

"-I wanted some time off from traveling for a while. Oh well, I'm sure May will want to come along, maybe even Misty." Ash muttered to himself as he continued eating.

Meanwhile, Misty was at Prof. Oak's lab talking to her sister on the phone.

"Anyways Daisy, I need to exchange a pokemon right away!"

"What's the big rush little sister? And why so early in the morning?"

"Come on Daisy, quit interrogating me. I'm sending goldeen to you from Prof. Oak's lab."

"Okay, okay. I have a guess of which pokemon you want." Daisy said as she picked up a poke ball and showed it to Misty through the video phone. Misty smiled.

"Thanks Daisy!"

The two poke balls were exchanged. Misty picked up the poke ball and held it close to her heart wishing herself good luck.

"So what do you need it for anyways Misty?" Misty turned to face her sister on the screen.

"I have a plan to win Ash over!" She replied.

"Alright, well good luck!"

"Thanks again Daisy!" Misty hung up the phone and the screen went black. She glanced down at the poke ball in her hand with a little distress. "This might be thought of as cheating, but it'll help Ash in making his decision quicker. I feel terrible about this, but I just can't go another day hoping he'll pick me."

May was walking back to Ash's house from her little shopping trip. In one hand was a bag containing the things that Mrs. Ketchum had asked for, in the other was a bag with some souvenirs along with a couple of gifts for her family. She seemed pretty content with the goodies she got.

"Mom is going to love this adorable little dishtowel I got her!" May said excitedly as she visualized the pink dishtowel with a picture of the entire town of Pallet stitched onto it with the words 'I love Pallet Town, Kanto'. "Hmm, speaking of Mom, I should have gotten Ash's mom a gift or do something for her to thank her for her hospitality."

As May continued on towards Ash's house, she saw Ash burst out the front door as if he was in a hurry for something with Pikachu right behind him. She could only stand and watch with a clueless expression upon her face. She blinked as she saw Ash and Pikachu speed off.

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" She wondered. May shrugged and entered the front door. She put down the bags in her hands and closed the door behind her.

"Misty? May? Is that you?" Mrs. Ketchum called out from Ash's room.

"It's me Mrs. Ketchum, I got what you asked for!" replied May as she picked up the bags again and headed towards Ash's room.

"Thank you May, that was very sweet of you to do for me." Mrs. Ketchum smiled warmly at May.

"No problem! If you need anything else done, let me know!" May said as she handed Mrs. Ketchum the bag.

Misty had walked in the house with the poke ball still in his hand. She curiously headed towards Ash's room when she heard Mrs. Ketchum and May talking.

"You're such a good girl May! Your helpfulness rivals Misty's!" Misty was a little disconcert by that comment.

"Oh, I don't know about that." May said sheepishly. Mrs. Ketchum peered over May and saw Misty standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Welcome back Misty! Were you able to get the pokemon you wanted?" Misty snapped out of her little trance.

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Misty peered down at the poke ball in her hand. She then looked around. "Where's Ash?"

"He went on a little errand, he'll be back later today." Mrs. Ketchum answered.

"Oh." Misty said quietly. 'Great, my plan won't work if he's not here, and I won't be able to put it into action if May's here too.'

"Were you planning on having a battle with him or something?" May asked curiously.

"Uh, y-yeah! That's right!" Misty lied.

"So was that why I saw Ash running out of here earlier?" May asked Mrs. Ketchum. She nodded.

"Mr. Birch called asking him to meet a new trainer coming into Kanto. He's going to accompany him during his journey in Kanto to collect badges."

"He's going to make that same trip again?!" Misty asked.

"Mm-hmm, but not before lunch. He needs his energy or else he won't be able to do all that walking! After all, mother knows best!" Mrs. Ketchum winked as she said the last part. Both Misty and May thought about that last thing she said.

'Mother knows best? I've got it! If I show Mrs. Ketchum how great a girl I am, she'll definitely encourage Ash to choose me!' they both thought simultaneously.

Mrs. Ketchum resumed to packing Ash's backpack. Misty saw this as an opportunity.

"Here! Let me help you Mrs. Ketchum!" she said as she put in some things into the backpack.

"Why thank you Misty!" May realized that Misty had the same idea as she did and frantically thought of what to do.

"Um, I'll go wash up those dirty dishes that Ash left behind!"

"Oh thank you May, that'd be gre-" by the time Mrs. Ketchum turned to face May, she was already gone. "-at…"

While this was going on at the Ketchum residence, Ash was making his way to the dock with Pikachu. He wasn't even sure what time the ship would arrive, but he wanted to make it there early just in case.

"Come on Pikachu! We've gotta get there quick!"

"Pika!"

They made it to the dock finally and it seemed like with plenty of time to spare since there was no ship yet.

"Well, it looks like we wait Pikachu."

"Cha…" Pikachu sighed. They went over to a bench and sat down.

"I wonder who'll be coming."

"Pika…"

May had finished the dishes and Misty had finished packing. Mrs. Ketchum was out in the garden with Mr. Mime. She watered her flowers while Mr. Mime swept. The girls came outside almost racing towards Mrs. Ketchum. Misty made it to her first.

"Mrs. Ketchum, let me water your flowers for you! I can get it done faster since I have water pokemon!"

"Sure Misty, thank you!" as Mrs. Ketchum turned to head into the house, she almost bumped into May who was standing right in front of her.

"Oh! Hi May! Do you need something?"

"I was about to ask you the same question! Is there anything you'd like for me to do Mrs. Ketchum?"

"Well since Misty's watering the flowers for me, I was going to hang the laundry up to dry."

"I can do that for you Mrs. Ketchum!"

"Um, okay…" Mrs. Ketchum said. She headed towards the door and turned to look at the two girls. "You two are being so helpful! I appreciate it! Maybe today I can finally catch my soap opera!" with that said she went inside leaving the two girls.

"Enjoy your break!" Misty said. She then glanced over at May. "I'm guessing you had the same idea, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, may the best girl win." they shook hands on it.

Misty turned towards the flowers. She grabbed three poke balls and held them in between her fingers. They were tossed and out popped out Corsola, Politoed, and Staryu.

"Corsola! Politoed! Staryu! Use water gun on the flowers!" the three pokemon did as they were told. Suddenly Psyduck popped out of it's poke ball. It used it's own water gun on the flowers. It merely squirted out enough to water a weed. As soon as it was satisfied that it helped out, it jumped up and down excitedly.

"Psy-ay-ay!" it happily said to Misty. She only returned it to its poke ball.

"Yeah, some help you are." she said with a little irritation in her voice.

May headed inside to fetch the laundry basket full of damp clothes. She leaned over to pick it up, but found it was too heavy for her to lift alone. She started dragging the basket over to the door and got tired out. She gave a look of despair, but something clicked and she lightly hit herself in the head.

"Duh May!" she told herself. She grabbed a poke ball and released Combusken.

"Combusken!"

"Combusken, could you help me carry out this laundry basket?" the pokemon nodded and grabbed one side of the basket while May grabbed the other. They successfully carried it outside to the clothesline.

"Thanks Combusken!" May said as she returned it to its poke ball. She grabbed two other poke balls and released Beautifly and Bulbasaur. Together, the three hung up the laundry in mere moments.

"Looks like we both finished in record time, huh May?" Misty said as she recalled all of her pokemon and walked over to May.

"Yeah!" May said happily. She turned towards Beautifly and Bulbasaur. "Thanks you two! You did a great job today!" she said as she recalled her pokemon as well.

Mrs. Ketchum came out to check on the girls. She saw that they did a wonderful job.

"Wow! You girls really are a great help to me! Thank you so much!"

"It was nothing Mrs. Ketchum!" May said.

"Ash is very lucky to have both of you girls around! I wouldn't mind if he chose to go out with one of you, you'd both make such wonderful girlfriends for Ash!"

"Huh?!" Misty and May both exclaimed.

"Oh! I'm sorry if I embarrassed either of you for saying that, it's just that I equally like you both so much that I'd be ecstatic if either went out with my son!" with that said, Mrs. Ketchum went back inside the house.

The girls fell back in the traditional anime style. They didn't think Mrs. Ketchum would think of both of them as the best for Ash.

"Looks like we're tied here, aren't we?" May asked.

"Not for long! This really has to end now! I'm tired of trying to get Ash to like me better! So this will be our final round!" May looked at Misty with an inquiring look.

"What will?" she asked.

"The loser of this next round will have to give up on winning Ash's heart. May, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

And that's the end of chapter 9! Who will win this pokemon battle? What was Misty's plan earlier? Will she use it later? And who is it that's coming all the way from Hoenn? Stick around to find out